This invention relates to a method and apparatus for preventing access to plants, trees, or tables or susceptible sections of plants or trees by crawling insects or other crawling pests. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for preventing crawling insects or other crawling pests from crawling to attractant supporting sections of structures such as a table or a flower pot support by imposing a barrier which will disrupt the pests' navigation and orientation mechanisms. The invention further relates to a method and apparatus for preventing crawling insects or other crawling pests from gaining access to susceptible sections of plants, trees or tables.
At the present time, the most common method for preventing crawling insects or other crawling pests from damaging plants or trees is to apply chemicals which may be poisonous to or around the plants or trees. Such chemicals may have adverse environmental impacts and may not be suitable for use with plants or tree products which will eventually become foodstuffs. Additionally, the effective period of such chemicals is usually limited necessitating repeated application of chemicals.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a physical barrier to crawling insects or other crawling pests. This barrier has members arranged in a particular manner which prevent crawling insects and other crawling pests from reaching the table, the plant, the food stuff growing on a tree, a plant, the attractant support mechanism or the susceptible area of a plant or tree in the case of an accessible plant or tree.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide unobtrusive devices that are relatively inexpensive, easy to install, easy to include in the manufacture of a plant support, quick to maintain, and environmentally safe, while having physical and other barriers for preventing crawling insects and other crawling pests from reaching a table, a plant, a tree or a susceptible section of a plant or tree.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an assembly which may be added to an attractant support mechanism either when manufactured or as a subsequent addition to the support or as an integral portion of a support mechanism at the time the support is manufactured.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus which prevents crawling insects and other crawling pests from access to a plant, tree, table, or a susceptible section of a plant or tree which has minimal effect on the plant or tree.